Avon runners bring home titles from Winding Trails Invitational

The Avon High girls cross country and boys cross country teams each won the Winding Trails Invitational Saturday in Farmington.

FARMINGTON, Sept. 27 – The Avon High boys and girls cross country teams didn’t have to travel far on Saturday to earn some championship trophies. Both teams won their respective Large School races at the third annual Winding Trails cross country Invitational meet. 

The Avon boys placed three runners in the top 10 and five in the top 14 to beat Newtown, 43-60 and win the Large Division championship. Collin Pritchard took third in 17:08.8 over the 3.1 mile course at Winding Trails. Andrew Suter was sixth in 17:33 while Kurt Goldie was eighth in 17:35. 

Senior Molly Hamel easily won the girls race in 19:29.4, beating Erin Tressler of Newtown by 23 seconds. Teammate Christina Martin was fifth while Ryley Higgins was seventh and sophomore Gabriella Colletti took eighth. Avon beat Simsbury, 43-51 to win the title with five runners in the top 10. 

It was the first time that Avon had participated in the event. In the junior varsity races, Avon’s Andrew St. Jean was fifth and Gillian Reyes was third. 

BOYS
Large Division
Team results – 1. Avon 43, 2. Newtown 60, 3. Foran 91, 4. Bunnell 92, 5. Farmington 108, 6. Jonathan Law 125
Individual results – 1. Palmer Weimann, Farmington, 16:22.9, 2. Kyle Mangold, Newtown, 16:54.1, 3. Collin Pritchard, Avon, 17:08.8, 4. Edward Tomasso, Farmington, 17:19.8, 5. Tyler Porcello, Foran, 17:31.7, 6. Andrew Suter, Avon, 17:33, 7. Alex Ghajar, Bunnell 17:34, 8. Kurt Goldie, Avon, 17:35, 9. Jeremy Doucette, Law, 17:38, 10. Joel Duval, Newtown, 17:39, 11. A’hsantay Manning, Bunnell, 17:40, 12. Bryant St. Jean, Avon, 17:46, 13. Brendan Reeds, Newtown 17:53, 14. Brett Holtzman, Avon, 17:54, 15. Jack Ardrey, Foran, 18:00
Other Avon results: 23. Greg Oberhausem, 18:50, 24. James Grant 18:59
Other Farmington results: 32. Trent Blaszko 19:47, 35. Jared Lomangino 20:18, 36. Joe Siuta 20:29, 37. Jeff Pelland 20:35, 38. Cordell Szot 20:39 

Small Division
Team results – 1. Shepaug 47, 2. Northwestern 53, 3. Cromwell 100, 4. Berlin 101, 5. Lewis Mills 103, 6. Nonnewaug 141, 7. St. Bernard 153
Individual results – 1. Peter Bakker, Northwestern, 16:15.5, 2. Jackson Morrow, Lewis Mills, 16:36.4, 3. Gavin Woodward, Northwestern 16:48.9, 4. Ed Wolfe, Shepaug, 16:59.8, 5. Jared Darius, Cromwell 17:00. 

GIRLS
Large Division
Team results – 1. Avon 43, 2. Simsbury 51, 3. Newtown 60, 4. Foran 91, 5. Bunnell 92, 6. Farmington 108, 7. Jonathan Law 125
Individual results – 1. Molly Hamel, Avon, 19:29.4 for 3.1 miles at Winding Trails, Farmington, 2. Erin Tressler, Newtown, 19:53. 9, 3. Sarah Mawdsley, Newtown 19:58.1; 4. Julie Longfritz, Simsbury, 20:32.6, 5. Christina Martin, Avon, 20:43.0, 6. Sarah Soja, Simsbury, 20:47.1, 7. Ryley Higgins, Avon, 20:49.8, 8. Gabriella Colletti, Avon, 20:50.5, 9. Shelia Flaherty, Hand, 20:53.6, 10. Rachel Martin, Avon, 20:59.7, 11. Emma Bayuk, Newtown, 21:01.8, 12. Abby Erasmus, Simsbury, 21:07.1, 13. Megan Phillips, Hand, 21:13, 14. Elise Hildebrandt, Simsbury, 21:17, 15. Bella Albani, Simsbury, 21:19.
Other Avon runners: 17. Kristen Goldie, 21:39; 20. Erin McGuire, 21:52
Other Simsbury runners: 21. Callie Corbett 21:53, 26. Kat Makkavayev 22:36 

Small Division
Team results – 1. Berlin 32, 2. Nonnewaug 63, 3. St. Bernard 88, 4. Cromwell 89, 5. Lewis Mills 108, 6. Northwestern 142, 7. Branford 160
Individual results – 1. Ellen Arvdison, St. Bernard, 20:23.8, 2. Aden Fariyo, Enfield, 20:44.0, 3. Michelle Grieco, Berlin, 20:51.2, 4. Nicole Bitinaitis, Cromwell, 21:13.7, 5. Hanna Gregory, Nonnewaug, 21:14.2